FOREWORD

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

 The Venerable Archbrotherhood of the Misericordia in the City of Florence in .
  Northern Italy, together with its twin sister the Compagnia del Bigallo is probably the .
  oldest charitable lay institution existing in the world.  It is a branch of the Society of.
  Faith which was founded in Florence in the year 1244..

  Later when epidemics and plagues brought havoc in Florence the Brotherhood.
  became extremely active carrying the sick to the city hospitals. It so distinguished.
  itself as an "Ambulance Service" that the Florence City Council granted the
  Misericordia its official recognition as a public institution on the 31st March 1329..

  Over the years various modes of transportation were used and in the cities around the.
  world, Baskets, Sedan Chairs, and Biers were used to carry sick and injured people.
 .Many of these were replaced in the twentieth century by the hand cart on which was
  placed a stretcher.  Foremost among these was the "Furley-Headley" litter.

 The experience of one man, a citizen of Beneva called Henry Dunant led to both the  foundation of the REd Cross and the first Geneva convention.  Dunant witnessed  theaftermath of the battle of Solferino on the 24th of June 1859. he suggested to the
 establishment, relief societies who could be trained during peacetime.

 This eventually led to the training being concentrated on "First Aid" which is the
 skilled application of accepted principles of treatment on the occurrernce of an
 accident or in the case of a sudden illness, using facilities or materials available at the
 time.

 The value of a thorough training and a high standard of proficiency in First Aid need
  hardly be stressed, particularly at incidents where a qualified doctor is not available.
 The St John Ambulance Association, the St. Andrew's Ambulance Association and
 the British Red Cross Society work towards the same end and will train individuals to
 enable them to obtain First Aid Certificates of equal value.  These Societies have a
 Training Manual common to all three and the Certificates are recognised by
 Government Departments and industry.

 |Local Authority Ambulance Services recognised these Certificates and some forty to  fifty years ago, paid staff a princely sum of five shillings (25p) a week for holding
 such a qualification.  Hence staff were trained by one of the three local Aid Societies 
 to obtain a certificate, renewed every three years.  It was not until the 1960's that the
 "MILLER" training was introduced into the Ambulance Service and it was some
 twenty years later before Extended Training in Ambulance Aid, that was already
 being practised in many services, was formerly acknowledged.

 It soon became apparent that the equipment necessary to carry out these new-found
 skills had to be purchased.  Ambulance Services made great progess by establishing
 voluntary subscription funds.  Eventually Government bodies accepted this, which
 swiftly led to the teams of Paramedics who we are now accustomed to seeing within
 our communities.

"THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE MUST TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ALL
OTHER FACTORS"